POLITICO Playbook: The two profiles everyone’s talking about

TWO TERRIFIC PROFILES EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT …

-- N.Y. MAG’S OLIVIA NUZZI on RUDY GIULIANI: “A Conversation With Rudy Giuliani Over Bloody Marys on the Mark Lodge”: “Over a sweater, he wore a navy-blue go well with, the fly of the pants unzipped. He accessorized with an American-flag lapel pin, American-flag woven pockets, a diamond-encrusted pinky ring, and a diamond-encrusted Yankees World Collection ring (about which an harmless query resulted in a 15-minute rant about ‘fucking Wayne Barrett,’ a journalist who manages to enrage Giuliani even in demise). …

“I asked him how he ever trusted Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Russian associates with a enterprise referred to as Fraud Guarantee who have been arrested by the FBI in October. ‘They appear like Miami individuals. I do know a whole lot of Miami those that seem like that which are perfectly reputable and act like them,’ Giuliani stated. ‘Neither certainly one of them have ever been convicted of a criminal offense. Neither one. And usually that’s my cutoff level, as a result of for those who do it based mostly on allegations and claims and — you’re not gonna work with anyone,’ he stated, laughing. ‘Notably in enterprise.’ …

“In the grand tradition of Soros conspiracy theorists, Giuliani believes the media is doing the billionaire’s bidding by printing lies about him, yet he typically bungles his own attempts to discredit the media’s reporting. While trying to argue that, despite what has been written, ‘I have no business interests in Ukraine,’ he informed me about his enterprise pursuits in Ukraine. ‘I’ve carried out two enterprise offers in Ukraine. I’ve sought 4 or 5 others,’ he stated. Since he’s been representing the president, he stated, he has been approached with two opportunities in Ukraine, both of which he turned right down to keep away from accusations of impropriety. …

“As Giuliani walked down the carpeted ramp, he fell over to his proper and hit the wall. He stored on strolling as if it hadn’t happened…. ‘I’d like some sparkling water. And I know you might have fantastic Bloody Marys,’ Giuliani advised the waiter. ‘Sure, sir,’ the waiter stated, ‘and I know you're keen on them.’ Giuliani laughed. ‘You’re a very good man!,’ he stated.” N.Y. Mag

RUDY RESPONDS to @OliviaNuzzi: “I simply obtained off the telephone with Rudy Giuliani, who decided to name me to yell at me after he learn ‘5 paragraphs’ of my story. He advised me, ‘it’s ineffective to speak to you. You’re a misplaced trigger.’ He then talked to me for an additional six minutes and stated he’d go learn the rest of the story. …

“Giuliani is awfully indignant that I wrote that he contradicted himself after he claimed that he doesn’t have any enterprise interests in Ukraine. … I just acquired off the telephone with Giuliani, who referred to as again. He claims he’s now learn the story and thought it was unfair, and that he fell into the wall as a result of he has a nasty knee. He stated he shouldn’t speak to me and that he’s going to the opera tonight. ‘Merry Christmas,’ he stated.”

-- WASHINGTONIAN’S AMANDA WHITING on TIFFANY TRUMP: “Tiffany Trump Is About to Finish Law School. And She’s Getting a Lot Trumpier”: “For the past two-plus years, as a scholar at Georgetown Regulation, the President’s daughter has existed in a kind of political holding pen: too young, perhaps, to be scrutinized significantly, not young sufficient, at 26, to be spared unkind comparisons to Jan Brady. Now Tiffany is about to graduate. While a operating tally of perceived slights may recommend she isn’t poised to develop into a full-fledged Trump, with all the attendant fame and ire, there are nonetheless delicate signs she needs in. What is going to Tiffany Trump do?

“Of all of the very possible apocryphal tales that college students commerce about Tiffany, this is the story in widest circulation: One time in school, when Tiffany was cold-called by a professor and didn’t know the reply, a member of her security detail piped up in her place. His reply was proper, the class laughed, and the professor advised the agent he couldn’t do this anymore. (‘They’re all the time previous guys in caps,’ says a 1L. ‘You'll be able to inform.’) …

“Since shifting right here in 2017, Tiffany Trump has lived a relatively normal life -- gone to class, gone to parties. Individuals see her in the cafeteria, in the bowels of McDonough Corridor. But among the many two dozen college students I spoke to whereas reporting this story, the consensus is that she likes to keep a low profile. When you need to know if she’s on Georgetown’s cramped law-school campus, you’re higher off checking the First Road lot the place her element’s SUV idles than ready for her to announce herself. If she has a Washington fame, it’s for seeming as un-Trump-like as potential. …

“In contrast to Ivanka and Jared, Tiffany doesn't stage see-and-be-seen sorties to Cafe Milano. Positive, you may need glimpsed her on the Trump Lodge on her birthday in 2018, but her spotteds in Playbook are scant, and her habits skew youthful than most Dependable Supply tipsters. She has dined at Bresca on 14th Road, checked out Artechouse, and posed for a pic in front of Nam June Paik’s ‘Electronic Superhighway’ on the Smithsonian American Artwork Museum. She’s typically photographed in baseball caps, and those baseball caps are often pink.”

Good Tuesday morning. For all those households on the lookout for Santa tonight, take a look at the official NORAD Tracker.

FRONT PAGE of the Grand Rapids Press: “U.S. Steel will close plants, cut 1,500 jobs”

NEW … “Home counsel suggests Trump might be impeached again,” by Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney: “The House is open to the prospect of impeaching President Donald Trump a second time, legal professionals for the Judiciary Committee stated Monday.

“Home Counsel Douglas Letter stated in a filing in federal courtroom that a second impeachment might be mandatory if the Home uncovers new evidence that Trump attempted to impede investigations of his conduct. Letter made the argument as a part of an inquiry by the D.C. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals into whether or not Democrats still want testimony from former White Home counsel Don McGahn after the votes last week to cost Trump with abuse of energy and obstruction of Congress. ...

“It’s the primary impeachment-related filing by the House since lawmakers voted, principally along social gathering strains, to impeach Trump over allegations stemming from efforts to strain Ukraine to examine his Democratic rivals. It comes just hours after the Justice Department argued that the impeachment votes undercut lawmakers’ ongoing courtroom case demanding testimony from McGahn, who was particular counsel Robert Mueller’s central witness.” POLITICO … The filing

THE NEW WORLD ORDER … NYT: “Pentagon Eyes Africa Drawdown as First Step in International Troop Shift,” by Helene Cooper, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt: “Protection Secretary Mark T. Esper is weighing proposals for a serious reduction — or perhaps a complete pullout — of American forces from West Africa as the first part of reviewing international deployments that might reshuffle hundreds of troops all over the world, in line with officers conversant in inner deliberations.

“The discussions of a large-scale pullback from West Africa embrace abandoning a just lately constructed $110 million drone base in Niger and ending help to French forces battling militants in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The deliberations stem from a push to scale back post-9/11 missions battling terrorist teams, and as an alternative to refocus Pentagon priorities on confronting so-called Nice Powers like Russia and China.

“With an preliminary choice about Africa expected in January, the plans are positive to draw criticism from lawmakers, allies and army officials, and will ultimately have an effect on most international missions not directly. About 200,000 American forces are at present stationed overseas, just like the pressure posture when President Trump took office with a promise to shut out the nation’s ‘countless wars.’ However Mr. Trump is just not a lot ending wars as he is shifting troops from one battle to another, and Mr. Esper’s initiative aims to hold out that rebalancing.” NYT

IMPEACHMENT WATCH -- BEHIND THE SCENES … BURGESS EVERETT and MARIANNE LEVINE: “Mike Lee is the quiet force to get Trump acquitted”: “Lindsey Graham is preventing President Donald Trump’s impeachment case on Twitter and every media outlet that may have him. Mitch McConnell is swatting down Democratic demands and pledging to acquit the president.

“However behind the scenes, Sen. Mike Lee is quietly enjoying a crucial position coordinating with Trump and his legal workforce forward of the impeachment trial.

“The Utah Republican is working with the White House to monitor the wide-ranging viewpoints inside the Republican Senate majority, including his Utah colleague and impeachment wild card Mitt Romney. That relationship might show essential when the Senate considers troublesome votes on witnesses or different motions, and finally on the president’s acquittal or conviction.

“And although Lee is staying away from the cable information meals fights that some of his colleagues are fixtures on, he’s not precisely urging a dulcet tone from Trump. ‘He has each purpose to be assured about this, every purpose to be unapologetic and defiantly confident about his case. Because he has a very good case,’ Lee stated in an interview as the Senate left for the winter holidays late last week. ‘I have recommended all alongside: If [House Democrats] are going to do this, steer right into the wind.’

“As quickly as Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced an impeachment inquiry this fall, Lee began frequently talking with the president and White House counsel Pat Cipollone about the way to plan for the storm. Importantly, Lee has helped advise Trump and his group that the Senate shouldn’t just try to dismiss the impeachment fees but should as an alternative hold a trial to exonerate him.”

-- WAPO: “Impasse over Senate impeachment trial likely to last weeks as both sides dig in,” by John Wagner and Paul Kane

-- “Roberts will tap his inner umpire in impeachment trial,” by AP’s Mark Sherman

BANNON’S SWAMP STORY … NYT’S MAGGIE HABERMAN: “Bannon’s Work With Wanted Chinese Billionaire Began Shortly After He Left White House”: “Virtually instantly after ending his White House employment, Stephen Okay. Bannon, the previous chief strategist to President Trump, cast a lucrative financial relationship with a mysterious Chinese billionaire who was sought by Beijing for extradition from america.

“China’s authorities had already accused Guo Wengui, a real property magnate also referred to as Miles Kwok, of cash laundering, bribery and rape when he and Mr. Bannon developed a mutually useful relationship that started with a $150,000 mortgage to Mr. Trump’s onetime confidant, in accordance with a memo written in Might 2019 and obtained by The New York Occasions.

“It escalated to a yearlong million-dollar contract, for which Mr. Bannon promised to introduce executives of Guo Media to ‘media personalities,’ based on the news outlet Axios.

“Mr. Guo has denied accusations of lawbreaking and says Beijing’s extradition request is retaliation for his outspoken criticism of Chinese language corruption. He has cast relationships with China hard-liners like Mr. Bannon within the United States, has a membership to Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Fla., and is in search of asylum whereas in the USA staying at his palatial house overlooking Central Park.”

YA THINK? … AP/LONDON: “Queen Elizabeth II to admit ‘bumpy’ year in Christmas speech”: “Queen Elizabeth II plans to acknowledge that both Britain and her household have endured a troublesome yr by saying throughout her Christmas message that it has been a ‘bumpy’ time.

“The pre-recorded message might be broadcast in Britain and the Commonwealth nations on Christmas Day. It was recorded before the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, was hospitalized in London as a precautionary measure. Excerpts launched by Buckingham Palace before the speech present the queen admits difficulties throughout the course of the yr.

“Speaking concerning the need for reconciliation and forgiveness, Elizabeth says: ‘The path, in fact, shouldn't be all the time clean, and should at occasions this yr have felt quite bumpy, but small steps can make a world of difference.’”

THE LATEST ON NORTH KOREA -- “China, Japan, South Korea meet on North Korea, free commerce,” by AP’s Zhang Weiqun in Chengdu, China: “Leaders from China, Japan and South Korea reiterated their commitment to ending North Korea’s nuclear and missile packages at a trilateral summit Tuesday that comes towards the backdrop of accelerating calls for by Pyongyang for sanctions aid.

“Free trade and economic cooperation have been additionally at the forefront of the conferences between Chinese language Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in within the southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chengdu. Li stated the three agreed that ‘dialogue and session is the one efficient method to remedy the issues of Korea Peninsula.’” AP

2020 WATCH …

-- TRUMP’S NEW TALKING POINTS -- “Trump assaults on wind turbines, low-flow bogs and LED lightbulbs arrange key campaign clash with Democrats,” by WaPo’s Toluse Olorunnipa and Juliet Eilperin in Palm Seashore, Fla.: “Whereas Democratic presidential candidates have referred to as for sweeping measures to get rid of the U.S. carbon footprint, President Trump is promising voters a world free of the everyday inconveniences associated with combating local weather change — rolling again lightbulb laws, ordering a research on low-flow bogs and turning bans on plastic straws into a marketing campaign rallying cry.

“The distinction is shaping up to be a key theme of the 2020 presidential race as Trump bets that his pitch to a bygone era will sway voters turned off by calls from some Democrats on the left for a transformative Green New Deal.” WaPo

-- “‘Amy is dynamite’: Klobuchar claims ‘Klomentum’ in Iowa,” by David Siders in Sheldon, Iowa: “Amy Klobuchar retains telling Iowans concerning the textual content she obtained from a good friend cheering her ‘insurgency’ after final week’s debate. The pal meant to say ‘surge,’ but Klobuchar discovered the auto-correct error humorous — and whatever you call it, she’s desperate to convince Iowa it’s for real.

“Sprinting across the state’s sparsely populated, westernmost reaches, Klobuchar is heralding her many endorsements within the state, a doubling of her employees in Iowa and the $1 million she raised within the day after the talk on Thursday night time.

“Six weeks earlier than the caucuses, the Minnesota senator occupies a singular place in the Democratic presidential main. She sits firmly outdoors the top tier of contenders. But she is the one candidate seen extensively in Iowa — by local celebration officers, marketing campaign operatives and her rivals — as having the last, greatest probability to disrupt the caucus subject. POLITICO

-- THE WORLD IS REVOLVING AROUND BUTTIGIEG, PART INFINITY … NYT’S SYDNEY EMBER in Diagonal, Iowa: “Klobuchar Is Banking on Iowa Moderates. Her Problem: So Is Buttigieg: Amy Klobuchar stays in a distant fifth place in Iowa, the place her largest challenge is translating rising curiosity around her candidacy into help on caucus night time”: “Of all the Democratic presidential candidates still within the race, it has been Ms. Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator, and Mr. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., who have worked hardest and deepest to win over Iowa’s extra average Democrats, pitching themselves as Midwestern pragmatists who know tips on how to prevail in purple states.

“Each candidates know they've nearly no path to the nomination with no robust end in Iowa, and in the six weeks that remain earlier than the Iowa caucuses, it’s possible their competitors will solely intensify.”

-- “Warren embraced the high-dollar fundraiser circuit for years — until just before her presidential campaign,” by WaPo’s Annie Linskey and Michelle Ye Hee Lee

TRUMP’S TUESDAY -- The president is collaborating in a video teleconference with members of the army at 9 a.m. at Mar-a-Lago.

DAILY RUDY -- “Text messages reveal former golfer’s role in Ukraine scandal,” by CNN’s Vicky Ward: “When Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman traveled to Ukraine last winter to assist Rudy Giuliani dig up filth on President Donald Trump's political opponents, they have been accompanied by a 44 year-old American named David Correia.

“A former pro golfer and restaurateur, Correia had gotten to know Parnas and Fruman in South Florida, the place he'd gone into business with Parnas years earlier.

“Whereas Parnas and Fruman, who had high-level contacts in Ukraine, worked to collect paperwork that they believed confirmed proof of corruption by Joe Biden and his son Hunter, Correia was there to make the effort pay off in lucrative business deals, in line with people who talked to him on the time, as well as copies of text messages obtained by CNN.”

BUSINESS BURST -- “Boeing Faucets David Calhoun as C.E.O. to Stem 737 Max Crisis,” by NYT’s David Yaffe-Bellany: “As the new chief government of Boeing, David L. Calhoun will tackle one of the crucial challenging tasks in corporate America: steering the embattled airplane producer out of a crisis that has consumed it for more than a yr. Boeing’s best-selling jet, the 737 Max, has been grounded for 10 months after two deadly crashes exposed critical flaws within the jet’s design and led to scrutiny of the company’s manufacturing process and its dealings with regulators, as well as to accusations that it ignored safety considerations in its aggressive zeal.

“However whereas the magnitude of the duty has little precedent, this is not the primary time that Mr. Calhoun, who has longstanding ties to the aviation business, has needed to navigate a period of company turmoil. Over many years as an government at corporations like Basic Electrical, Nielsen and Blackstone, he has been hailed as a ‘turnaround specialist’ and described by colleagues as an experienced and decisive operator.” NYT

FUN READ -- “Feds say they’re ‘working around the clock’ ahead of Santa’s Christmas Eve flight,” by The Salt Lake Tribune’s Thomas Burr

MONICA LEWINSKY in VANITY FAIR: “The Decade We Reclaimed Our Stories — and Ourselves”

MEMO DU JOUR -- “Pentagon warns army members DNA kits pose ‘private and operational risks,’” by Yahoo’s Jenna McLaughlin and Zach Dorfman: “The Pentagon is advising members of the army to not use shopper DNA kits, saying the info collected by personal corporations might pose a safety danger, in line with a memo co-signed by the Defense Department’s prime intelligence official. …

“‘Exposing sensitive genetic info to outdoors events poses personal and operational dangers to Service members,’ says the Dec. 20 memo signed by Joseph D. Kernan, the undersecretary of protection for intelligence, and James N. Stewart, the assistant secretary of protection for manpower.” Yahoo

WAY OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY -- “G.O.P. Lawmaker Had Visions of a Christian Alternative Government,” by NYT’s Mike Baker in Spokane, Wash.

MEDIAWATCH -- Delano Massey is becoming a member of CNN’s Washington bureau as supervising producer for the workforce overlaying the Justice Department. He previously was deputy information director for the AP in Chicago. … Pervaiz Shallwani is joining CNN’s New York bureau as senior editor for investigative enterprise. He previously was a senior editor and writer at The Day by day Beast.

-- Kevin Delaney is working on a six-month venture for the NYT’s opinion section. He beforehand was at Quartz.

-- Matt Taylor is joining The Every day Beast as national editor. He previously was at Vice.

Send tips to Eli Okun and Garrett Ross at politicoplaybook@politico.com.

SPOTTED: Chuck Todd at DCA on Sunday morning, boarding an American flight to Pensacola, Fla. … Mick Mulvaney sitting in coach on an American Airlines flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday night.

WEEKEND WEDDINGS -- Michael Charles Breyer, son of Supreme Courtroom Justice Stephen Breyer and Dr. Joanna Breyer, and Leah Solivan, basic associate at Gasoline Capital and founder of TaskRabbit, received married at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco on Saturday. Decide Charles Breyer, Stephen’s brother, officiated.

-- Robert Lawrence, director of congressional affairs and authorities relations at SIGAR and a David Dreier alum, and Amber Esplin obtained married at Rock Hill Plantation Home in Stafford, Va., on Saturday. Pic… Another pic

BIRTHWEEK (was Monday): Lee Feinstein

BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Sabrina Singh, nationwide press secretary for Cory Booker’s campaign. What she thinks doesn’t get enough attention: “Can I say two? First, India’s new citizenship regulation, which..

Src: POLITICO Playbook: The two profiles everyone’s talking about
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